The Importance of Vitamin D And How to Keep Up Your Body’s Vitamin D

One of the most crucial needs of our body is Vitamin D. And the primary source for it is the sun. However, not all of us share the luxury to enjoy the sun or be in it long enough to have all the Vitamin D our body needs.
For instance, if the sun is to be the only source for your Vitamin D intake, you will need to live somewhere close to the equator. Then, you will need to spend from 10-15 minutes, at least, in the sun from 10 am to 3pm.
Not only that, but you will also need to expose yourself to the sun completely. This means, no sunscreens. And then, you will also have to avoid a skin-damaging sunburn.

Isn’t that a hassle? Who has all that kind of time available these days? And let’s not even talk about the danger of not wearing sunscreen. This makes it complicated, doesn’t it?

So, how should we solve this problem? Simple. You let USANA take care of it. With USANA® Vitamin D, nourish your body and keep your health and skin perfectly fine. Take Vitamin D supplements daily and stay strong.

You may be wondering why bother? Here’s the thing. One out of every two people is actually deficient in Vitamin D. And it is crucial that your body has enough Vitamin D. And so, one in two people actually need to take supplements.

How does Vitamin D help your body?

Vitamin D is actually more important than some people think.This nutrient is essential to our body as it helps maintain health and strength. It helps keep us sturdy, assists our body in fighting off diseases, and in maintaining a healthy heart.

Here are some ways this nutrient strengthens our body:

• By retaining normal bodily health and function*
• By supporting bone and teeth grow and store minerals*
• By boosting immune function*
• By making muscles strong and active*

Vitamin D supplements are known to have long-term effects in promoting good health. And USANA’s Vitamin D formula carries the key to a healthy life. Since it is also rich in vitamin K2, it is really good for the heart as it promotes the heart’s health.

If you have significant exposure to the sun, like you spend a lot of time outdoors, you may not need an additional supplement for Vitamin D. However, most people do not have enough exposure or the right kind of sunlight available to them every day.

And those people need to keep their intake levels up to the mark. If you fall into this category, you need to start going out into nature and take your USANA Vitamin D supplements to stay healthy and strong.

Vitamin D Deficiency- A worldwide problem

Your Vitamin D levels are important in maintaining good health. However, numerous people suffer from its deficiency and insufficiency. Statistics show that almost 50% of the worldwide population is suffering from Vitamin D deficiency. Speaking specifically of the US, around 2/3rd of people don’t have enough daily Vitamin D intake.

Perhaps, many people do not take this deficiency as something serious. However, it has severe repercussions. Vitamin D is not an additional nutrient that boosts health; it is a vital nutrient that helps your body perform many of its important functions. Low levels of Vitamin D are associated with many health conditions among people across the world.

Reasons for Vitamin D deficiency

Studies indicate that one out of two people is suffering from Vitamin D deficiency. And Several factors contribute to insufficient levels of Vitamin D intake.

Lack of UVB Exposure

Our bodies absorb ultraviolet rays coming from the sun, in the form of sunlight. These rays are then converted into Vitamin D in our organs.
Let’s look at this in layman’s terms. What happened was that our ancestors grew up outdoors. Their bodies evolved and adapted to the sunlight exposure.

And so, the body developed an ability to convert the ultraviolet B (UVB) coming from the sun into a vital substance that promotes health and growth in our body. And that substance came to be known as Vitamin D.
However, times changed and exposure to sunlight became less and less favorable. Diseases such as skin cancer and fear of premature aging made us go out less. It also prompted the use of sunscreens. And as a result, people started becoming deficient in Vitamin D.

Your Location

Another reason why your body might not be absorbing enough Vitamin D is because of where you live. Believe it or not, the sunlight needs specific conditions to be absorbed properly in your body.

Take a globe and find the equator. Now, check how far away you live from it. The further you are, the more chances there are that you are not taking enough Vitamin D.

The reason behind this is that the sunlight is hitting at an angle and is not direct. In addition, if you live in a polluted area, it will affect how much UVB rays can get through your skin.

Timing

Timing is also important in absorbing Vitamin D from the sunlight. Now, the issue with this is that in fall and winters, sunlight does not shine directly during most part of the day. Instead, it forms an angle. This means, that fewer UVB rays pass during early dawn and dusk.

Midday is the only time when UVB rays would be absorbed more. You can perform a simple test to check that. See if your shadow is longer than your height, it means you are exposed to fewer UVB rays.

Age

Age also impacts how much Vitamin D your body is absorbing. Firstly, older people tend to be less mobile and thus go out less. But importantly, age also impacts the absorption capacity of your skin.

Your skin does not absorb as much UVB as it once used to. And your kidneys do not convert UVB rays into Vitamin D as efficiently as it did in your youthful days. And as a result, your body does not have enough Vitamin D.

Skin Color

Research shows that skin pigment has a direct correlation with the absorption of Vitamin D in the body. Darker skin tends to produce less amount of Vitamin D. And thus, people with darker skin are at a greater risk of having Vitamin D deficiency.

Excessive Weight

Vitamin D is fat-soluble. It means that body fat is where it is collected and stored. Thus, people who have an excessive amount of fat in their body would need a comparable amount of Vitamin D for absorption as opposed to someone with a lower body fat percentage.

Diet and Digestive issues

Your Vitamin D absorption is also influenced by certain gut conditions. Moreover, your diet also influences your Vitamin D intake. Some foods contain Vitamin D such as fatty fish (salmon, trout), dairy, orange juice, and cereals (fortified). However, the amount of Vitamin D in these foods is too low.

Depending on your exposure to sunlight and your diet, your body may not make enough Vitamin D. Fortunately, you can overcome this gap by taking supplements. They are healthy and promote good health.

Keep Up Your Vitamin D Levels All Year

USANA formulated its vitamin D supplements in order to help people regulate their Vitamin D levels. Since most people do not have the necessary exposure to the sunlight or dietary habits that would assist in the absorption of Vitamin D, USANA made sure they stay healthy despite it.

USANA Vitamin D supplements pack 50micrograms (mcg) in a small tablet. Now, this may not sound like much. However, it is equivalent to Vitamin D you would get from drinking more than 14 cups of milk a day or having four servings of salmon.

And this is not the end. USANA’s Vitamin D supplement is a perfect choice to avoid deficiency. USANA’s supplements contain the most useful type of Vitamin D. They use Vitamin D3 instead of Vitamin D2, as the former is more effective. Research shows Vitamin D3 is more effective in producing active Vitamin D in your body.

This is not just a mere claim. USANA’s scientists have researched and studied the importance of Vitamin D3. And it was proven, individuals who take USANA’s multivitamin or Vitamin D3 are 6 times more likely to have optimal levels of Vitamin D in their system.

And this is not all of it.

In addition to Vitamin D, the supplements contain another essential nutrient. This nutrient is called vitamin K2. It helps your body make proper use of calcium (an important element for bones). Vitamin K2 helps maintain your heart and skeleton’s health.

Each tablet is packed with 30mcg of two important sub-types of Vitamin K2. By providing both types, the tablet provides you benefits you would get from a varied diet.

The first subtype is called MK-4 (Menaquinone) and comes from animal sources such as butter, eggs, and liver. Some of it comes from green leafy vegetables.

The second type MK-7 comes from fermented foods such as soy food, usually common in Asian foods. This type of Vitamin K has benefits equivalent to those you would get from exposure to nature.

Importance of Vitamin D and K in your body

Vitamin D and Cellular Health
You will find our Vitamin D supplements under USANA’s Cellular Health category. The reason is that many tissues and cells in our body require Vitamin D to function properly.*

Vitamin D produced in our body is unique because it goes through several conversions in our body. Firstly, it gets converted into a prohormone, which is a precursor of a hormone. Vitamin D3 from your skin and body reacts with enzymes in your liver to produce this prohormone. This prohormone becomes active upon metabolization.

When the body needs it, the prohormone form gets converted into the active form of Vitamin D also known as calcitriol.

The body keeps a firm check on the active Vitamin D levels. To regulate the optimal levels of active Vitamin D, your body needs to have enough of Vitamin D available for conversion.

Therefore, a supplement can ensure that the prohormone form is present whenever it is required for conversion. These active Vitamin D hormones are involved in many biological activities.

Our bodies are designed for the absorption of Vitamin D. Several parts of our body contain receptors for Vitamin D such as:

• Brain and central nervous system
• Skin
• Muscles
• Thyroid
• Breast
• Adrenal glands
• Colon
• Prostate
• It is estimated that Vitamin D also regulates some of our genes (around 200-300)

Even though the studies indicate that Vitamin D is crucial to the body; however, the extent of its importance is not fully discovered yet. Researchers continue to study the effects of Vitamin D deficiency on the body. Many health-related issues are connected to it. But the importance of the nutrient is unquestionable.

Vitamin D for Stronger Skeletal System

You must know that calcium is a very important element for your teeth and bones. However, there are other nutrients that are equally important for your skeletal system.

Vitamin D and K are vital to maintaining bone mass and reducing age-associated bone loss. This means, that you would need to consume ample amounts of these nutrients throughout your life. After all, stronger bones would help you stay stable on the ground.

Let’s see how these two nutrients work.

Vitamin D aids the absorption of calcium and phosphorus in the intestine. Vitamin K helps the proper use of calcium in the body by activating the hormone that takes calcium from the blood to the bones and binds it there.
Moreover, Vitamin D also initiates the process of taking the mineral out of the bones if calcium is needed in your body and is absent from the diet.*

Vitamin D deficiency also causes weakness in the joints and limits their mobility. Plus, after intense workout sessions, Vitamin D aids muscle recovery. And so, USANA’s Vitamin D tablets contain nutrients that support healthy muscle and joint function.

Vitamin K2 for Your Cardiovascular Health

Studies have shown Vitamin D is related to your heart’s health. However, another important nutrient for your heart’s healthy functioning is Vitamin K2. And USANA’s supplement cares to provide both.

Vitamin K2 activates the protein called Matrix Gla or MGA. MGA protein acts like a guidance sign. Basically, this protein directs your calcium attaching hormone (called osteocalcin) regarding where the calcium should be attached. This prevents calcium from being accumulated in the wrong place such as soft tissues. Hence, your blood vessels remain healthy for normal blood flow.

Vitamin D boosts Your Immunity

Your immune system never sleeps. It is always at work keeping your body healthy and functioning. USANA Vitamin D tablets help you stay well, no matter the season and pace of your life.

Vitamin D plays an important role in keeping a healthy and balanced immune system. It plays a role in preserving healthy function throughout your body including the parts you don’t think are important in immunity such as your skin.

Vitamin D helps create specialized immune cells that play an important role in your body’s health and strength.*

In addition, Vitamin D also assists communication between these cells. Basically, most immune cells contain receptors for Vitamin D. And when Vitamin D attaches to these cellular receptors, messages are sent to induce certain natural responses from your body to regulate healthy functioning. For instance, the production of more active Vitamin D when required.

How Much Vitamin D Do You Need?

In simple words, a lot. Vitamin D is a crucial element that needs to be converted into its activated form to help our body perform many of its basic functions.

During the winter season, people tend to stay indoors and covered up from head to toe. Moreover, the sunlight is not as effective during most part of the day. This means that their exposure to the source of Vitamin D (the sunlight) is comparatively less. Therefore, supplementation is essential.
Now, you must be wondering that perhaps Vitamin D absorption is plenty in the summer. However, that is not the case. In fact, studies show that most people do not have sufficient exposure to the sun in summer. So, despite what they believe, their bodies do not have nearly as much Vitamin D as required.

For this reason, USANA Vitamin D tablets are formulated with high levels of Vitamin D so that you do not have deficiency throughout the year.*

Let’s talk about quantity.

Here’s the thing. What most experts believe to be the recommended amount of Vitamin D intake is actually not in accordance with what science suggests. Hence, DRI set by the Food and Nutrition Board for adults per day is 15 mcg (600 IUI). However, science suggests much higher concentrations are required for optimal functioning (40-60ng/mL).*

Symptoms of Low Vitamin D
If you wish to know the status of your Vitamin D levels, you ought to get a Vitamin D test. This is the only way to know for sure. However, there are certain symptoms that you can notice in yourself and get yourself tested.

Pay attention to the following signs

Feeling Down and Out
You must have heard people tell each other to go out in the sun if they are feeling low. And you know, they are right.
What happens is that Vitamin D is responsible for helping your brain develop what we call the ‘happy juice’ or the hormone serotonin. This hormone influences our moods. It is produced at a higher rate when you’re exposed to sunshine or bright light.

So, if you are feeling down and low, you may be low on Vitamin D.

Achy Bones and Joints

Another symptom is weakened bones. You might be experiencing lower back pain. Deficiency of Vitamin D may affect the absorption of calcium and phosphorus efficiently. And thus, it impacts the bone mass causing them to become weak.

Other symptoms include muscle cramps, pain, or weakness; fatigue; and hair loss. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, talk to your doctor, and get tested to check your Vitamin D levels.

A study conducted in-house at USANA disclosed that supplementation of up to 5,000 IU of vitamin D3 is needed to reach the optimal level. In simpler terms, 125 mcg of Vitamin D3 is required daily. And this is the amount recommended by Vitamin D Council.*

And USANA keeps it close to science. Here, we aim to give you the best of the best and support your body in staying healthy and strong. USANA’s Vitamin D supplements contain all the necessary nutrients. Besides, USANA’s Vitamin D supplement is designed to complement other supplements such as USANA’s CellSentials, MagneCal D, and BiOmega.
When an individual takes these supplements in combination, they boost his/her entire system. These supplements should be enough for most healthy adults in getting true health benefits.

When you take both the CellSentials and the Vitamin D supplement daily, you get 570 mcg of vitamin K. Out of this, 480 mcg is Vitamin K1 that promotes bone health and prevents blood clotting. The remaining 90mcg is Vitamin K2, another important type of Vitamin K.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.